Second Life or IMVU?

Very curious about how the two programs and peoples social experiences compare. I am testing out Second Life for the first time and I tried IMVU just for kicks a few months ago. I definitely find Second Life more interesting with a wider spread of people with different interests but in IMVU it seemed kind of limited. Its difficult to articulate why but IMVU seemed like it had a more basic popular culture vibe. If you've never played IMVU I'd like to know why Second Life is your virtual world of choice.

I've always wondered why they are called Safe Hubs. What is so safe about them? Lack of damage and build? That is the only thing I can think of but that is all Infohub. Also, all the Safe Hubs I know of look the same. Maybe the designer named it Safe Hub and it has nothing to do with safety.

I’ve been just getting into Second Life as I’ve been playing IMVU for the past year. Second Life is a lot more advanced and a lot more complicated then IMVU. IMVU is also a lot harder when it comes to making friends. You kind of have to get lucky and hit the jack pot but I’ve found that on Second Life people will talk to you regardless if you’re a “noob” or not and are relatively friendly for the most part. All though, to be fair I did go to the rooms where new people were more welcomed but regardless they seemed to be nice. I feel like once I fully figure SL out I’ll like it more than Vu. It doesn’t hurt to interact in both worlds or games though.

Second Life and IMVU are extremely different. IMVU is a glorified instant messenger with rooms you can chat in. Second Life is an open world simulator in which you can do ANYTHING and explore the grid. IMVU is very limited in regard to user creation of in world content.

They're both virtual worlds though. IMVU is definitely VERY simple by comparison but its still a little bit more than an instant messenger. They put care into their avatars even though its not nearly as inventive as Second Life.

I'd be hesitant to call IMVU a "world" but continue playing Second Life and you'll see what I'm talking about for yourself. I understand why you're confusing the difference though. Most people start out on IMVU and graduate to Second Life. I did, and I definitely see IMVU for what it is now.

I still stand by my original comment though, IMVU is an instant messenger...hell if I'm not mistaken, I believe IMVU stands for Instant Messaging Virtual Universe. While I believe they may have exaggerated on the Virtual Universe portion, they even admitted to it being an Instant Messenger right in the name! LOL! Can't exactly argue that, sir.

I peeked at IMVU years ago when I had first started playing secondlife. I was immediately turned off, because at the time they had some feature or another where you could grab someone and kiss their hand (or something equally cheesy.) The only way you could interrupt this shit is to be a premium subscriber.

Granted, this was literally a decade ago, and granted it's a virtual space and it's not the real life, but I was still not amused that I would have to pay up to keep creepers off my tits.